DALEK: Moving Beyond the Space Monkey

L to R: |Dalek 9, 32″x32″|Dalek 7, 32″x32″|Dalek 2, 36″x36″|All work: Acrylics on Panel|
There’s a reason DALEK’s â€˜Desperate, Rejected & Angryâ€™ show at the Jonathan Levine Gallery basically sold outâ€”only one painting didn’t sellâ€”for almost $10k a pop. The work was new. Way more intricate, detailed and refined than some of his former tribes of Space Monkeys floating around on multiple-colored canvasses. DALEK had the insight to transition, and executed his vision really well. He even admits to the dangers of being pigeon holed in this interview with Creativity, a warning that some artists in the whole ‘Downtown Contemporary-Graffiti-Whitney Bi-ennial-ish’ art scene should take heed of:

“That’s all I got when people asked me to design somethingâ€”’Can we get a monkey for this?’ There are only so many fucking Space Monkeys you can put out into the world before people burn out on it.